Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) functions in a telecommunications network, such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, enable operators to avoid manually managing neighbor relations (NRs) between cells associated with a controlling node, such as an eNodeB element of the LTE network.
When user equipment (UE) attempts and fails a handover operation between cells (e.g., from a source cell to a target cell), the physical cell identity (PCI) information for the target cell is unknown to the ANR functionality. For example, when there is no neighbor relation table (NRT) that exists for the PCI (when the user equipment (UE) reports physical cell identity (PCI) information for the target cell, but the reported PCI is not mapped in the neighbor relation table (NRT) to any target nodes).
In conventional networks, the ANR functions request from the UE the cell global identity (CGI) for the target cell. The ANR then uses the reported CGI to build a new target cell identifier (TCI) for the target cell, and updates neighbor relation tables (NRTs) within the controlling node with the new TCI for the target cell.
However, in some cases, the NRT exists but the CGI of the target cell may have previously changed during various network processes, such as previously performed network optimization processes. In such cases, if the CGI changes, but the PCI remains unchanged, the UE will report the unchanged PCI to the controlling node, which uses the CGI information from the NRT. The controlling node, having the unchanged PCI information, will utilize corresponding TCI information, which is erroneous and obsolete (being associated with old CGI information). Thus, handover procedures to the target cell will fail, and the network will provide users with a low-quality experience, such as dropped connections, among other drawbacks.
The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present technology. Moreover, while the technology is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the technology to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the technology is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the technology as defined by the appended claims.